The city has given final approval to a plan to merge two hospitals, eliminating one of the vestiges of a racially divided health care system.
The City Council voted 24-13 Tuesday to combine historically black Meharry Medical College's Hubbard Hospital with the city's public hospital, Metro General Hospital. Under the plan, Metro General would close in 1995.Mayor Phil Bredesen said the move is a "wonderful thing for race relations."
Meharry has traditionally graduated many of the country's black doctors and dentists, and about 60 percent of its patients are black.
About 80 percent of the patients at Metro General are white, and it was only six years ago that Meharry residents began training there. Three-quarters of its staff come from Vanderbilt University's medical school.
However, Meharry's president, Dr. David Satcher, said, "This wasn't a racial issue, but at best a financial issue."
Satcher first proposed the merger three years ago as Meharry, founded in 1876, struggled with a drop in funding and a lack of patients.
The head of the Metro Hospital Board, William R. Willis, had opposed the merger, but the board voted in favor of it in October. Opponents argued a merger would harm the quality of medical care.
The city has 510,000 residents, 23 percent of them black. Meharry has 405 beds and 150 doctors. General, founded in 1890, has 229 beds and 177 doctors.